How much wear do you allow off-road tires and which tires are best?
- Thread starter MBDIAGMAN
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From your mission statement some all terrains on the aggressive side would be fine for you?
As said before,sidewall strength is a consideration offroad with rocks,roots and branches.
Do you drive it much? Is tire noise and vibration a concern?
Maybe you want M/T's for looks like me and many others even though mud is a rare situation.
Can't go wrong with one of the American brands with a tough carcass. Buy from somewhere that has an easy no questions asked hazard warranty in case you put a hole in one.
BTW,nice looking jeep!
As said before,sidewall strength is a consideration offroad with rocks,roots and branches.
Do you drive it much? Is tire noise and vibration a concern?
Maybe you want M/T's for looks like me and many others even though mud is a rare situation.
Can't go wrong with one of the American brands with a tough carcass. Buy from somewhere that has an easy no questions asked hazard warranty in case you put a hole in one.
BTW,nice looking jeep!
I deal with this struggle every time I think about tires.
Being that my LJ nowadays is mostly used for fair weather weekend ice cream runs with about 2 wheeling trips a year where I avoid mud as much as possible, I'm sure I could get by just fine with ATs and have a better driving, less noisy experience and might even enjoy wheeling a little more if the ATs gave a little more challenge. But a lifted LJ on 35s looks sooooo much better on MTs.
The only road use it gets is driving back and forth to the off-road rec area at 70MPH about 35 miles one way. It doesn’t do ice cream runs and if I ever take it farther from home it will be on a trailer or by tow bar.
I want MT’s for the side lugs. There is a good bit of use for them where I wheel.
Thanks for all the discussion guys!
I want MT’s for the side lugs. There is a good bit of use for them where I wheel.
Thanks for all the discussion guys!
Especially with some of the AT's and RT's these days.
The Kenda RT has one a really aggressive sidewall for a non-MT. But seeing some of your pics with the thick Texas clay, MTs are probably a must.
More questions:
My current tires are called 35” tall. Their actual height is 34.6”. It has been written by several prominent posters on this forum, that my beefed up axles will handle 35’s. If I went to tires that were slightly over 35”, like 35.6”, would this put me into a significantly more stressful load on the axles?
My current tires are called 35” tall. Their actual height is 34.6”. It has been written by several prominent posters on this forum, that my beefed up axles will handle 35’s. If I went to tires that were slightly over 35”, like 35.6”, would this put me into a significantly more stressful load on the axles?
Yes, those pictures from winching out of the mud was an interesting situation. I backed up twice after initially entering that mud. All three runs into the mud, hoping that momentum would get me through, had a strange feel to them. I would bog into spinning wheels that were taking me nowhere, but it was like I was feeling a solid bottom.
My recreational off-road experience is largely on dirt bikes, but my practical off-road experience, which is crossing pipeline cuts across my place on the Red River (I wonder how someone came up with the name of that river?) and being bogged in locations when doing volunteer disaster relief following tornados and hurricanes. In most of those situations, there was no solid base below the mud.
No matter how much I try, I can’t avoid mud altogether.
Where are you going to find a 35.6? Are you thinking the actual measurement of a 37?
If so, yeah, that’s stressing a 30 and a 35 - or even a 44.
I suggest and prefer a hybrid tire myself. I have had 3 sets of Toyo RT tires, 2 sets of 35's on a JKU and the 33's on my current LJ. They provide a nice balance between streetability and having enough aggressive tread to work in adverse condtions. Both sets wore even, and i have never had any issues balancing or anything like that. Also less road noise compared to MT's.
The Toyo RT's are also used often by offroad racing chase trucks and prerunners, which given them more credence for performance in extreme conditions. They're 10 ply (load range E) if you care. Many consider higher load range a hinderance when street driving but a i consider the added strength a benefit when wheeling.
The Toyo RT's are also used often by offroad racing chase trucks and prerunners, which given them more credence for performance in extreme conditions. They're 10 ply (load range E) if you care. Many consider higher load range a hinderance when street driving but a i consider the added strength a benefit when wheeling.
Thanks for the great discussion!
I put Toyo AT III’s, I think they were, on my truck recently. I always thought of Toyo’s as mid level quality and I think on passenger cars I may be right, but I’ve been very pleased with my truck tires. I will check out the RT’s.
I put Toyo AT III’s, I think they were, on my truck recently. I always thought of Toyo’s as mid level quality and I think on passenger cars I may be right, but I’ve been very pleased with my truck tires. I will check out the RT’s.
Dont you dare compare my precious Toyo's to some Milestars. Lol
I cant speak for passenger tires but Toyos are generally considered premium offroad tires. Toyo, BFGoodrich, Goodyear, Cooper etc. are among the best offroad tire manufacturers for high reliability, and that's why the price match the reliability. High. They're also the most often recommended on the site. Though alot of people have love for Mickey Thompsons which have a competitive price.
Heres a somewhat recent comparison of 33" AT tires by price.
I just installed a set of Mickey's 35x12x17 AT, Sold the Cooper Pros same size at 10/32 for $600 for 5. I just got back from a 2300 miles trip, Mickey's did Great.
I'm in the same boat. I have swampers on spare wheels for winter wheeling so I know I should just run A/T's. But a beat up old 4x4 just looks sad without mud tires!
The AT’s work great on my truck because it probably sees 90%, maybe more, of its miles on pavement. My Jeep probably sees 90% of its time (not miles) on trails and rocks and the other time on pavement.. I need MT’s on it and maybe even swampers if I get some that can also work well on rocks.
I'm on my second set of Kenda Kevlar MTs, the first set was on my F250 and now on my TJ. I have no idea how they would do on rocks, but they got really good grip on Florida's slippery wet ashfalt, or dry for that matter. They handle the sand better than any MT I've ever seen, and of course they handle there business in the mud too.
To follow up, I went with 35 12.50R15 Mickey Thompson Baja Boss MT’s. My wheeling weekend fell through so I haven’t been on the trail with them yet, but I’ve done about 40 miles on the highway at 70-75 MPH, no top on as you see in the picture, and they are absolutely amazingly quiet. They did a great job balancing them too. The tires are silk smooth.
I’ll try to remember to report back after some serious trail time.
BTW, thanks for the comments and advice in this thread. It was helpful.
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I finally got pictures of the old Mickeys posted on Marketplace and sold the five old tires, of which one had a knot at the bead, for $425.00. Thanks to several of you for the suggestion to sell them at 9/32”. In today’s Jeep world $425.00 is not a lot of money, but it definitely helps, and the tires are out of the hangar now. Thanks to you guys for the suggestion to sell them at their half life.
I’ve had the new Mickeys in the same mud hole with great success. Nothing beats having the right, fresh tires.
I’ve had the new Mickeys in the same mud hole with great success. Nothing beats having the right, fresh tires.
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Nope. No link. That was months ago and I have no idea where it came from, maybe it came out of the sky into my worn out 76 year old brain, but the only tires exact size that I care about are the ones I bought, and as I wrote, the spec sheet says that they are 34.6. Are tenths of an inch in advertised tire diameter really worth quibbling over?
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